Music review: Freestate's debut Album "Surrender"

**Disclaimer*: if anyone from the band Freestate, related to its members or affiliated with the band sees this, what follows is my opinion and i do not mean to harm or offend anyone in the band. **end of disclaimer**

Ok, so this is an attempt at a music review of a band called Freestate and their debut album, which came out last year, entitled Surrender. its available on itunes, but i took part in the promotion they did through tunelab.com where the band would email you 2 track from the album every other week. This was fine and dandy but 1) the tracks werent; sent in order and 2) there were massive delays in emailing the tracks to me and after getting about 6 of the songs initially the emails completly stopped. Thats what i call a succesful promotion *sarcasm* Ok rant done.


So i was hoping i could get the rest of the album at some point, maybe off itunes, but then abotu a week or so ago. The band did another promotion through tunelab.com offering the entire album for free, Which made me happy. so i just downloaded it then and there, overwriting the files i had. now back from what i had prior, there were 2 tracks that really grrabbed and the rest were solid or meh. now i have the full album, so i'll attempt to do a review of it. This is mianly because theyre gonna be recording thier sophmore effort stateside in september (so probably an April/May 2011 release). The sophmore album will make or break the band on my radar and below is why.

HEre's the track brakedown and my thoughts:

1) "SOS": A very solid opener, one of the ones that grabbed me right away, the musicianship is great, especially the drumworks, andd the lyrics are well crafted and nto cliche.

2)"Necessary": I beleieve this was the first single. I liked it initially and the musicianship is still solid, and the lyrics on the verses isnt bad. But the hook and chorus is what kills the song for me and makes it seem otu fo place for a band who went wiht a hard rock sound to open the album. The lyrics on the chorus are initially along the lines of "we'll find nothing's necessary to keep our love alive" or something. Gag me please, but i believe these words should never be paired with hard rock riffsm because they always come out emo-y.

3) "Lately": The first song wiht more of a Rap-rock/ feel and it totally doesn't mesh wiht the album's sound from the past two tracks. The opening sounds so promising too, like a good hard-rock song. But then the drums get somewhat tribal and it sounds like they're ripping off a B-side from 10 years' debut album, which means it essentially sounds like a more artfully prog sounding Tool. This sound only works for Tool and Maynard James Keenan. 10 YEars have sinced changed things up and i really want to look into them, cause i like their sound now. but that another post. This song also has a bti of Serj Tankian on the verses, but more melodic. but this is a typical. "I should listen more to me because i hate you and what you did to me" song. and i feel there's supposed to be some bite to this song, btu it falls flat in my opinion. The Chorus is too rap-like and the word feel is repeated at the end of both the first lines in it. And half the lyrics in the second line are said so fast theyre nearly mumbled.

4) "The Man who COuldn't Lie": I dont mine this song, but i kinda wish i had the full lyrics to the chorus. the opening sounds too much like old Theory of a Deadman, and the chorus, as far as i can tell is "I'm runnign away til i find, preistesses standing before you, sad lies. Cause i'm the man who can't lie, see the truth's here without you, said lies" or something. but the vocalist croons too much on the chorus, make the parts i believe to be "sad lies" and "said lies" impossible to understand. IT's a decent song though.

5)TWice Alive: Again not bad, but this song just plain doesnt do it for me, and dthe ending is polluted wiht too much vocalness and its overall a bit too repetitive for me

6) "Surrender" : Dont like how the track opens, Can't get into a song that opens with "once in a while a person comes along and makes you smile" Especially when the guitars and rums have so much OOmph after the acapella opening that you expect somethign different.

7) "Heart of Stone": It's nto bad, and i liek the atmospheric/ alt rock guitar riffs, but nthign grabs me here.

8)"Again". Filler song about how whoever wrote the song should've done what someobody said and not procrastinated. Bad topic, reptitive song that the hipster masses would eat up. I dodnt like this song at all. "If only i did what you said i'd listen to you" are some of the lyrics.

9) "Naked": It tooks us this long to get to another excellently crafted (both in musicianship and lyrics) song about tossing everything away and becoming anonymous to an extent. Really like the feel of this song and i love the solo.

10) "Fire fly": love the opening riff. verse lyrics are a bit weak. cliche topic of going all out, giving everythign and charging in for something you have passion for. but the chorus isnt half bad, and the vocal dont pollute the instrumentals, like on most of the rest of the album. The bridge is a bit cliche and drawn out, but i dont mind it. I feel like there coulda been a solo after it though. There's a very solid solo at the end after more of some bridge lyrics after the chorus repeats. I dont like the fadeout on the solo though. just extend the song so its ends after the solo. All in all, this isnt half bad of a song.

11) "Clarify": Interesting opening part. feels like a good driving song. not the best in terms of lyrics, but nto bad, they get better as the verses go. Chorus feel very forced, especially in terms of vocal range. The chorus seems a bit basic in its lyrics. smal guiatr solo after the second shorus and bridge, nothing special, then we get into "gang vocals" where the backing members (so the bassist and drummer for this band probs) do the vocals to get the crowd going live essentially. i dont like "gang vocals" and theyre hard to explain.

12) "Phoenix": more a world music opening. non-lead isnger vocals on the verse and then paired wiht his on the chorus. not bad chorus. but who is the other vocals, a guest guy or the bassist? nthign about a Phoenix in this song. bridge lyrics overlap, and are thus mixed poorly. obsession wiht the words "feel, real" and the word "scream is thrown in for filler over what coulda been a nice solo. seems this carries over to the chorus. How does this song pertain to a phoenix, or phoenix characteristics? Not bad, but nothign grabs me about it especially when it seems the churs is "fell real, scream to feel inside".

13) Mystery man: too punkish of an opener for me. the verses are quick, bland and forgettable. the chorus is weak as its just a lot of "ay" words like day,way and such rhymed together. dont like the vocal effect on the verses.


I think "Space and time" and "Phoenix (acoustic) were bonuses wiht the free download, so yea. not reviwewing them


In short, Download "SOS" and "NAked" those are your strongest tracks. Then maybe look at "fire fly" and "phoenix". but dont get the full album unless you're curious based on my descriptions.

--Zack